The Pioneer Adventures-Series 1
by OneUniverse87
Summary: A sort of original series with heavy elements and inspirations of movies, TV shows, video games, and internet review shows. Very AU. Rated T for violence, langauge, and suggestive adult themes. Ratings may change in later chapters.
1. 00 Unexpected Beginnings

**A/N: Okay, ladies and gentleman, this is an idea which had been floating in my head for a couple of years now, and thought I would do it in the form of fanfiction. I had this idea right around before Christmas 2013, and I've been getting many fantastic ideas that I wanna put into fanfic form. I've been watching various movies, TV shows and even internet review shows that I've watched, and yes, that includes Channel Awesome, who I don't have alot of respect for anymore. Anyway, I was curious and had been wondering if I should put this into a series. With these forms of media I watched down the years, picturing my original Time Lord character, the Pioneer in these shows, films and internet shows, and it just went on and on. Until I thought, why not? This is where the Pioneer Adventures was born. This series will have alot of heavy inspirations and elements from said films, shows, and franchises I watched over the years. All these elements from almost all kinds of media will come from Doctor Who, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Wrestling, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, video games, Anime, anything from under the sun, you name it! This little chapter here may not be much, but it'll give you at least an idea to build up the next chapter where the story really begins. This chapter is gonna take place around when Channel Awesome had just started, and yes, 2008 is where it all started. So I hope you all enjoy this little prelude, and with any luck, I might post the first episode of the newly established Pioneer Adventures. Peace!**

**Blackpool, UK, 3rd July 2008**

It was a bright morning as the sun rises over the horizon over small, seaside resort of Blackpool, located at the North West country of the United Kingdom about an hour away from Manchester. The place really didn't have much to show, apart from the landmark of the town, which is a high 518ft high tower built more than a century ago dating back to 1894 using the Eiffel Tower as inspiration.

Over the road from the Tower, was the Promanade overseeing the Irish Sea, with the beach populated by locals and tourists alike. Every year, the town would switch on the Illuminations by well-known celebrities in the country, with the free event which usually runs from August to November every year.

It wasn't an unusual thing about this place, and there isn't one person who knows the place by heart than Raymond Smith. He is a young man, born and bred from Blackpool in his early 20s, his brown hair grown to his shoulders with matching eyes filled with life and hope.

Ray thought about what his future would bring now that he has finished college, walking through the Blackpool Promanade, enjoying the sunny, July weather as a cool breeze hit his skin. He sighed, wondering what job applications he should sign up, thinking which one would suit him.

He shook his head to get his mind off potential jobs, he turned his head to the right to look at the passing cars, not paying attention where he was going, until he banged his head against something hard and wooden.

"Ow!" exclaimed Ray in pain, holding his temple. "Goddamn it, that hurts!"

Ray held his head to subdue the pain. It took a few seconds for him to recover to look at what was in front of him. He knotted his eyebrows in confusion when low and behold, a blue police box from the 1960s was standing right in the open in the middle of the Blackpool Promanade. To Doctor Who fans, like himself, it heavily resembled the TARDIS that was used to travel through time and space.

"_No,_" thought Ray, already find it hard to believe. "_It can't be. I know this place is a tourist attraction, but this is ridiculous. Surely someone can't just put this box right in the middle of a highly populated area and leave it here. It can't be real. Right?"_

Ray turned his head left and right to check if anyone is seeing the box, only to his astoundment, not one person is paying attention to it, only just going about their daily lives. Making his mind up, Ray placed his hand on the wooden frame of the box, only for him to pull back quickly when he felt some slight pulse. His eyes widened in utter surprise, shaking his head as if in denial.

"_No, no, no, no, no,_" muttered Ray mentally to himself. "_It's not real, it's not real, it's not real!_"

More than curious, Ray hesitantly put his open palm on the door, slowly opening it with a slight creak from the hinges. Getting inside, he expected the box to be an empty, wooden shell, only to see what appears to be a round, futuristic looking room with a central console inside. It was impossible, like utterly impossible!

Ray promptly ran back out of the box like his life was in danger, turning around to look at the box in pure shock, unable to believe what's in front of him! No, it really can't be it! Did he not just walk into the TARDIS? As in THE TARDIS!? The same piece of machinery that was impossibly bigger on the inside just like on that show he watches every Saturday night?

Ray frantically circled around the box, trying to make sense of this madness, and why it was not at all what it should been inside. A part of him wanting to believe it's not real, but another small glimpse of him wanting to believe it was very real.

Ray took a full minute to regain his composure, before he cautiously made his way back to the box, and walked through the doors again.

From the distance, anyone can try to make out that the wooden door of the box closed on its own, before it made what sounded like an odd, grinding noise echoing throughout the whole Blackpool Promanade as the 1960's police box vanished into thin air like it wasn't even there to begin with.

How the box even got to Blackpool in the first place? That would be a story for another day.


	2. 01 Toni

**A/N: Here you are, folks, the very first chapter of Pioneer Adventures has arrived. From what you're about to read here is obviously from a Doctor Who episode called Rose, the first episode of the show that returned in 2005. For those who're into wrestling might be quite familiar with this woman, and it's non other than Toni Storm from WWE NXT UK. So Toni will be taking Rose Tyler's place and will begin her journey through time and sapce. Making an appearence in this is also another female wrestler from NXT UK is Killer Kelly. I hope you enjoy this piece and I'll be post the 2nd episode for you soon. Peace!**

**London, UK, 7th June 2008**

Sometimes, it was not easy being a video editing producer on the internet, especially when you have growing fan base behind you. Overrall, it does have it's benefits, as this young woman got herself out of bed, squinting her eyes as she moved her bleached blonde hair from her face.

Her name is Toni Rossall, known on the internet as Toni Storm. She is the age of 21, native New Zealand who moved to Australia to start anew with her mother, then discovered the WWE on TV, known as the WWF at the time. That was how Toni got into wrestling and hadn't looked back. As a little girl growing up, she loved every minute of it. From the crazy matches, the on-screen gimmicks, the insane spots to the most memorable moments over the years.

Toni wasn't the type of person to lookup to fairytales, especially when her friends she used to know when she was a kid had tried to get her into all this cutesy girly stuff, but a tomboy at heart, she remembered how they couldn't comperhend the fact that she was more into wrestling than anything else.

As years went on, Toni then convinced her mother to move to the UK to be with her grandmother at Liverpool before moving to London after months of job searching, while training to become a professional wrestler.

Sure, she has a working job to keep herself stable, having to pay bills like everyone else. Granted, it's not the best job in the world, but it really does benefit her life, her goals and her needs, and life became hectic since she signed up on YouTube to start her channel to review anything related to professional wrestling. Reviewing regular shows and live PPVs for the newly formed channel that had kept her distracted from what's going on in the real world with all the crazy shit that is happening out there.

Toni shook her head to clear her mind from her daydream, she got out of her bed to start her day.

20 minutes later found a newly invigorated Toni toweling off her wet hair in front of her vanity, musing silently on the state of her roots. She combed her fingers through the damp locks to tame it into a neat sidesplit, then finished up with her make-up. Toni glanced at the hair dryer and then at the clock, sighing at the bright red lights that proudly declared it was '7:30'. Resigning herself to going to work with damp, wavy hair again, she padded over to a large antique dresser.

Her flatmate Kelly had given it to her a year after she moved to London, as a combined birthday present and early good-luck-on-your-A-levels gift.

She changed into her black t-shirt with an AC/DC logo, a pair of black jeans with matching trainers, and made herself some breakfast and went to her usual, daily routine.

Toni was never so grateful for her greatest aspiration as when she was observing the shop girls in Primark. If her dream didn't require her to have fantastic grades, she wouldn't have gotten the A-levels she had. If she hadn't done her A-levels, she wouldn't be working as the personal assistant to a senior floor manager of a huge department store; instead, she'd be slaving away folding shirts, like those poor girls.

* * *

Hours have passed by when the shop was becoming less busy, with the staff finishing their remaining tasks before closing down for the night.

"This is a customer announcement." A new clerk came over the shop's intercom system, and knowing what he was about to say, Toni's shoulders sagged with relief. "The Store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you."

Five minutes left, then it was about fifteen minutes of waiting while the clerks cashed out, and then they'd be home free. She grab the bus back home to the flat she shared with Kelly, have a brew, watch some TV, do some video editing for her channel, and then head to bed to start the whole, miserable routine again. The sooner she completes her training for wrestling, the better. God, she couldn't wait to start her wrestling career so she can travel the world!

She bid her time folding jumpers, went to the staff lounge to grab her bag, and headed for the door.

"Oi!" Lee, the security guard, said while stopping her by thrusting a plastic baggy of money against her chest.

"What's this?" she asked, knowing what it was and cringing at the idea that it was her turn.

"Take it down to Ian, will ya? Might be the week we can all quit this place."

"Might be." Toni replied with a strain smile. "Wait for me?"

"Have to if I wanna lock up, don't I?" he said with a sly grin and a wink. "So, hurry it up, Rossall. Match is on tonight."

Toni rolled her eyes and headed for the lift, sending Lee a glare the whole while as he let the rest of the staff out. Her fingers tightened around the plastic baggie in her hand as the doors shut behind her.

Ian's office was in the basement, and the corridor immediately off the lift was creepy enough with stockers and receivers wandering about during the day. All but the security lights had been turned off for the night as they were automatically prone to do, making the already eerie space that much worse.

"Ian?" she called out the second the elevator door was open. When he didn't immediately poke his head out from anywhere, Toni stepped out of the elevator and headed down the corridor. "Ian, I've got the lottery money. Ian?" She headed for his office door and knocked. She waited, reading the HP Ian CEO on the door about ten times before knocking again. "You there? Look, I can't hang about 'cause Lee's waiting. Ian!" She pounded again, this time with the palm of her hand. She grumbled softly and ignored the sting on her skin when that didn't get his attention.

Just as Toni was about to shout again or leave, she heard something down the corridor.

"Hello? Hello, Ian? It's Toni." She called out as she headed in the direction the noise came from. There was a door slightly ajar, and Toni pushed it open. "I-Ian?" She stuttered. It was dark, and she tried to scan the room for movement. Something caught her eye, and she flicked on the light in hopes of startling the old coot for trying to frighten her.

The room was filled with shop dummies, all dressed, though some fashions didn't make much sense. There were boxes neatly stacked and placed out of the way, and any other merchandise was carefully set aside as well. Odd, really, considering the clothing stock room was usually a mess, and she was fairly certain that the shop had never had so many extra mannequins before. Watching some horror movies in her life was bad enough, and seeing a couple of the mannequins placed in every part of the room for the most part really didn't do much to ease her. The sooner she gets home, the better for her to go to bed.

Heading further in, she called for Ian again, glancing about. As she headed for a second door, she heard the one she came through slam shut.

Toni's heart leapt up in her throat as she ran back, seeing the heavy red door sealed shut. An incident from a few years back flashed through her mind, of another shop girl getting stuck in the room for about an hour because they hadn't thought to make it unlockable from the inside. As Rose tried the handle, she realized that one incident wasn't enough for management to make the change.

Another door. She just needed to get to another door.

Just as she calmed herself down, there was another noise behind her.

Whipping around fast enough that her hair got caught in her partially opened mouth, Toni scanned the area for shadows. "Is that someone lurking about?" she half shouted into the room. She removed the lock of hair from her lips as she ventured into the room again. "Who is it?" she demanded.

She would give up the lottery money in a second flat, if need be. She could also do a decent enough job to make sure the sneaky fuckers didn't get away before she took off to safety herself.

Movement caught her eye, and she turned and startle to see a shop dummy coming toward her. "Ha," she managed to say and force a smile while her heart pounded in her ears. "You got me, very funny."

The dummy kept coming toward her, and she scanned it for some sign that it was fake, for someone controlling it. As she did, two more joined the first, crowding in on her.

Who was she working with tonight? Rhea and Candice, but they were ahead of her when Pete stopped her. She didn't recall the men's wear blokes, Travis, Marcus, and the new one. It had to be them, the former most being the worst at pulling these sorts of stunts.

"Right, I've got the joke," she said with a bit more menace this time. "Whose idea was this? Travis'?" They didn't relent. "Travis, is that you?" she asked.

But it couldn't have been. Even with the full closing staff being in on the joke, there would be no way they could get all the dummies to crowd in on her as they were now.

Toni backed away, a bit more unsteady now, bumping into the neat stacks of boxes and knocking them over. She collided with the wall, tried the nearest door, and had no luck. She scooted down, trying to get to the next, only to inadvertently put herself closer to the jerkoffs that were closing in on her.

She was properly frightened, and, when this was over, she would never hear the end of it.

_If you get outta this, Storm, _the voice in her mind betrayed the thoughts she didn't want to dwell on. She was surrounded, there was no way she could try the door without turning her back on her assailants. One raised its hand, and it looked as stiff, heavy, and unyielding as a proper dummy's. She closed her eyes, screwing her face up as she awaited the impact or hysterical laughing.

She didn't expect a cool hand to wrap around hers.

The world seemed to slow as Toni whipped her head up, she looked to see a smartly dressed young man around her age with chocolate brown eyes sparkling with life behind them.

"Run!"

The world sped back up. He pulled her hand before she could reply, and leading her through the door that she wanted to get through before just as the dummy's hand came down.

The hissing sound of a broken pipe faded as they ran toward the service lift on the opposite end of the second corridor. Heart hammering, Toni looked over her shoulder to see the dummies lumbering toward them at an oddly fast pace. Their movements were stiff, the act keeping intact, but the speed didn't seem to correlate with the limited mobility. It almost seemed like who ever was dressed up was still figuring how to walk, yet were moving as if they weren't hindered at all.

They stopped, and Toni turned away from the mob.

The man hit the button for the lift, and there were precious seconds before it opened up. With a gentle shove, he pushed her in first, then followed suit. He spun on heel, extending his hand toward the panel in a calm, casual manner. There was a whirring sound, and the doors began to close as a white, plastic arm swung down hard toward his head through the narrow gap that remained.

He grabbed it, and there was a bit of a tug of war between whoever was controlling the dummy and him, though Toni wasn't sure if he wanted to pull the arm or push it away. Other dummies were clamouring for an attempt to get through the few inches the lift door remained open, yet the lift doors didn't reopen as they should have. With a grunt, the man separated the arm of the dummy from the body, causing it to release with a pop. The man stumbled back, and the lift doors closed. But then, so had the dummies, whoever was the one trying to stop them was having fallen back to the others and causing them to fall.

"You pulled his arm off!" Toni commented once she felt steady enough.

"Yep. Plastic." the man replied, examining it thoroughly.

"Very clever, nice trick." she said as he handed it over to her.

"Hardly a trick. Just required a bit of muscle." he said with a smile. A bloody gorgeous smile, if she were being honest.

The corner of Toni's lips twitched up for a moment before she remembered that flirting in a small space with a complete stranger who just happened to be around when she was being attacked was likely not a good idea.

"So, who were they, then? Were they students?" asked Toni, asking him what the hell is going on.

"Students?" The man's brow furrowed.

"Yeah, students. Was it some sort of student thing or something?"

"No," he replied, eyeing her curiously. "Why do you think they would be students?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"I don't know. 'Cause to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they gotta be students."

"Clever." The man replied. "But as you saw, I pulled off the arm," he gestured to the chunk of plastic in her hands, and she looked at it for what felt like the first time. It was a proper dummy arm, not part of a costume at all.

She paused for a moment, remembering the reason she had been in the basement in the first place. "Wait, what about Ian?"

"Who's Ian?" he asked.

"Primark's chief electrician." she answered.

"Ian's dead." he told her gravely.

Toni blinked, the line between her eyes deepening, couldn't bring herself to move. Before she could even ask what he meant by that, the lift pinged, and he stepped out. Toni followed.

"He was set to retire." she said to herself.

"Watch your eyes. Gets a bit bright." He said as he approached the control panel for the lift. He held a long, silver, cylindrical thing with a blue LED light on the end toward it, and after a few seconds of whirring and humming, sparks flew from the panel.

Toni yelped, hopped back, and he chuckled.

"Probably should have warned you about that." he said with that ever-pleasant grin.

"So explain to me what this is all about," Toni said as he turned and lead her down the staff corridor to the loading dock. "Who are you? Will you explain what's happening?"

He took her elbow in a gentle hold and turned her about, guiding her down the corridor. "Now, as for the lot in the basement, they were plastic. Living plastic creatures, to be precise, otherwise known as Autons. They were being controlled by a relay device on the roof." he paused again, turning to her with a bit of apprehension. He waved a small beeping device - a bomb, probably - that he pulled out of his coat. He pressed a few buttons on it, set down by the door, then took her arm and guided her quickly away from the building.

"So I'm going to go up there and blow them up," he continues. "And I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go and live your clever little life, and forget all about what happened tonight. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

He motioned her through a metal door. Stepping through it, Toni realised he'd led her outside, into a deserted alleyway. He waved at her and shut the door behind him, missing her wince.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the door opened again and the man peered out with another grin, just as wide as the other, but somehow more manic.

"Oh, where are my manners," said the man apologizes quickly. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm the Pioneer."

"The Pioneer?" She replied, a brow lifting in disbelief.

"Yes, the Pioneer. And I never got your name." he said, gesturing politely.

"T-Toni." she stuttered, shaking her head a bit in disbelief. It was only then that she realized he was dressed in a some sort of punk rock style. His hair was grown to his shoulders a little bit, and has a fringe to give a look that he should be in a band. His long, black coat was as simple as it looks, as did his black shirt with white pinstripes and a matching white tie, reminding Toni of those rock bands that she loved but never admitted to. But the white converse boots, his black jeans and whatever that long, metal cylinder thing that was hooked in a loop attached to his belt, said he wasn't trying to look like a cross between Billie Joe Armstrong and David Tennant.

"Pleasure to meet you, Toni." he said warmly. "Run for your life!" She grinned at him, as he rushed back to the building, closing the doors behind him.

Toni heard the doors slam shut as she stepped onto the sidewalk, rejoining the rest of civilization. She reached the other side of the street without incident, and turned to stare at her workplace.

Nothing happened for about a minute.

Then the air pulsed with anticipation once, twice, three times...

The Primark building suddenly roared with a inferno that blazed first on the roof before speeding downwards, furiously destroying the infrastructure one floor at a time. The flames licked hungrily out the windows but thankfully remained within the confines of the building.

The people on the sidewalk screamed as glass rained down on them. Glad that Primark's used tempered glass for all their windows, the young ex-PA scanned the bystanders for any nasty injuries, and, finding none, briskly walked back home.

Toni only remembered the arm still gripped tightly in her hand when she was already halfway there. Deciding that even if the plastic reanimated, it was far enough from her flat for her flatmate and friends to be safe, she tossed the thing in a dumpster and went on her way, feeling silly when she zigzagged through different alleys, backtracked down a few streets and took a series of detours just in case.

Unknown to Toni, she ran past an alleyway that contained what appears to be a 1960's police phone box.

* * *

"Kelly, I'm home!" Toni called out as she slipped into the flat. She dropped her bag and clipboard beside the shoe rack.

"Oh my god, Toni!" Toni's flatmate Kelly, whose real name is Raquel Lourenço, who goes by the name of Killer Kelly on the internet. The redhead is from Portugal, and made a best friend out of Toni through their love for pro wrestling, and was training around the same time as the blonde, and even agreed to make a couple of appearances on Toni's YouTube channel as a stern, tough as nails character who pretends to hate her for laughs on the channel.

Kelly rushed over to her best friend and started patting her down for injuries. "What took you so long? I thought you were caught in the explosion! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Toni gently grabbed her flatmate's wandering hands and placed them on both her cheeks, calmly meeting the woman's eyes as she allowed her to cup her face. "I'm fine, see? Not a single scratch. I'm perfectly fine. Now, how'd you know about the explosion?"

"Look at the TV! It's on the news and everything!"

Surprised, Toni shuffled into the living room and stared at the television as it proclaimed, "The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire."

She vaguely registered Kelly saying, "I'll go get you a drink." The image of the burning Primark building on television somehow made the events of that evening seem more real, as if she'd been trying to pass everything off as a dream before now.

"Early reports indicate..." Toni sat down on the couch was about to watch the rest about what had happened earlier in the night, Kelly emerged from the kitchen with two cans of beer, and handed one to Toni. Kelly sat opposite from her flatmate.

"I've been phoning you like crazy, Storm!" scowled Kelly, opening her can and sipped her beer. "You have any idea how worried I was!?"

"Seriously," Toni laughed. When Kelly's expression remained stern, she dropped the smile off her face. The blonde leaned forward and reassured her flatmate. "I'm fine. Look, no injuries, see? I was far enough to avoid all the falling glass and flames."

Sighing, the Portuguese native leaned back to star at the ceiling, relieved that Toni wasn't harmed. "You're gonna give me an early death, you know that, Storm."

"You're such a drama queen," Toni chuckled.

"Oh, shush you," grinned Kelly, than faded before she prompted. "So what happened?"

"I'm not really sure. I wasn't in the shop when it happened, thankfully. Maybe a gas leak?"

"They better give you compensation, at least." said Kelly. "If it's not enough to start university, you can start your career in wrestling as soon as your training is complete. Or carry on with one of your review show that's all the rage right now."

"You can thank a certain video game nerd for that." finished Toni, then their phone rang. Kelly got up from her couch to pick it up and answered.

"Jinny, call off the search party!" said Kelly on the phone. "Thank god she's alive, but she was in seconds of death!"

Toni shook her head light heartedly at Kelly's antics. When the redhead went to her room, Toni gave the newsreader her attention again. "... fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure."

* * *

**London, 8th June 2008**

Having turned in early the night before, Toni easily woke to her first alarm and turned off the second before it rang. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water soothe her tense muscles.

When she remembered she didn't have work now. What would she do today?

"_Well, a proper breakfast for one..._" thought Toni.

She would save her flatmate from her own cooking today, though no one could beat Raquel Lourenço when it comes to making breakfast. She kept wondering what could do with herself for today? Maybe go to that wrestling school to complete her training with Kelly? Or just do a PPV review with her that she had planned for sometime?

Toni stepped out of the shower smelling of vanilla and jasmine. She dried herself quickly and sped through the rest of her morning routine, once again not bothering with the hairdryer. Today, she decided on a black vest top, a thin grey jumper, and black leggings with white combat boots. It was wonderful, wearing comfortable clothes she loved rather than the posh looking costumes she had to put on for work.

The young blonde was putting the finishing touches on breakfast. She threw parsley on her flatmate's eggs and placed the plate of buttered toast, eggs and sausages on the kitchen counter before sitting beside the table that Kelly was at the other end, eating her grub.

"I thought about what PPV you should review for your show," suggested Kelly. "We should do WCW Bash at the Beach 2000."

"Oh great," groaned Toni incredulously. "The PPV where Vince Russo's ego ran wild."

"Well, it might do your channel good," answered Kelly back, tilting her chin. "Think of all the views you'll get from that review in about a day or two."

Toni rolled her eyes. She was about to turn to the next page, hoping there would be better options for her show, when something near the front door caught her ear. A rustling of some kind, something that reminded her of…

"Kelly, you're such a liar!" Toni yelled, getting up from her chair, annoyed. "I told you to nail that cat flap down, we're gonna get strays!"

She went to the front door to see if the kitty intruder was still lingering by or if it had the good sense to go back out.

She could hear Kelly protesting that she had nailed the cat flap shut, but how often did she say she was going to do something and then got tied up on the phone or with the neighbours?

Sighing, she turned her shaking head away from the direction of her flatmate's voice, and looked to the entry. She did not find a kitten in the entryway. Toni did, however, see the nails Kelly swore she put in the cat flap laying on the floor by the door. In the flap were the exact number of holes to match said nail count.

She crept closer, feeling uneasy, knowing that no matter how big a cat was there was no way they could've pushed the flap open like that.

Toni bent down and peered through the opening, only to find herself drowning in chocolate brown eyes for a second time. She jumped up and yanked the door open to reveal the Pioneer.

"What're you doing here?" the Pioneer said, sounding put out. "And what is this flowery smell?"

"Probably my shampoo. And I live here," she said instead.

"Well, what do you do that for?" he replied petulantly.

If her eyebrows went any higher, they would be caught in her hairline. "I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to answer that. Besides, I'm only at home because _someone_ blew up my job."

The Pioneer hmm-ed. "I must have got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He raised right hand and pointed his index and middle finger at the center of her forehead, confusing her further. "No, skeletal structure, and you're certainly not plastic. Bye, then."

The Pioneer took another glance at Toni's grumpy expression. Admittedly, she looks rather cute and pretty, he didn't want to get attached.

Before he could leave, Toni reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"You. Inside. Right now." When the Pioneer remained reluctant, Toni added a "please?".

She finally managed to pull him into the flat. The Pioneer smiled, glancing around at the walls as any normal person would when they first walked into a new place. He took out the strange cylindrical thing from the night before and started waving it about while it whirred. He frowned, looking at it, eyes shifting about in thought as the whirr stopped.

"Lead the way," he said to Toni, sounding a little cautious. She beckoned him follow her, and she glanced over her shoulder to note that, while he still had an easy sort of stride, he seemed tense in a way she couldn't pin point.

She led him down the hall a short ways her flatmate's room where Kelly was still fussing with her hair before blow drying it. Her makeup had already been applied for the day, still in her pyjamas, writing some notes in her notepad for the show.

"Who is it?" Kelly called out, and Toni peeked into her flatmate's room.

"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes, Kelly."

"She deserves compensation," Kelly told the Pioneer as he appeared in her doorway.

"Oh, we're talking millions." he replied.

Kelly got up from her bed, smirking coyly at him, liking the punk rock attire he was wearing.

The Pioneer stepped forward with his hand extended to her. The Portuguese native took it, giving him as demure a smile as she could.

"I'm Kelly," she introduced. "Toni's flatmate."

"The Pioneer." he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. Confusion and disappointment flashed in his eyes a moment, and he took his hand back with a slight mewl of disappointment. "I don't mean to intrude so early in the morning, however, there was something pressing about the previous night that I had to investigate further. Allow me five, maybe ten minutes and I will be out of your hair."

"Take your time, no rush." Kelly replied, her flirtatious grin never leaving her face.

The Pioneer smiled and headed back toward the main living area.

"Have you had breakfast yet? I'll make you some sausage and eggs," the blonde interrupted from the kitchen.

"No, I haven't," he admitted. "I really shouldn't, but I'm starving, so might as well. Thanks."

"How do you take your tea?"

"Aye, just milk." he wandered through the sitting room, trying to entertain himself as he waited.

He spotted a magazine on the coffee table. He picked it up and opened it to the desired page.

"Eh," scuffed the Pioneer, grinning amusingly. "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."

"What?" Toni asked, bemused. She stared at him through the window between the kitchen and sitting room. "Alien? How would you know that?"

He grunted uncommittedly and grabbed a novel book instead. He flipped it rapidly.

"Hmm, sad ending." he said as if he predicted it.

He placed it back where he found it. He looked over at the shelves to see a stack of trophies for gymnastics and wrestling. All of them had the blonde's full name engraved on them.

"Toni Rossall," he said, nodding.

Toni took a brief glance at the Pioneer whilst making his tea, and cooking his breakfast.

He _was_ quite nice to look at, more so now in the light of day. His hair looked a bit neater, though she still had a latent urge to run her fingers through the ear-length locks. There was a slight shade of stubble, barely there, like he shaved a few hours ago but didn't care to present as perfectly smooth. His clothes looked the same from last night, the only exception that he was not wearing his long black coat, noting that his pinstripe shirt was short sleeved. He was sporting plain black sweatbands around his wrists, there were two on the right, and a single third one on the left.

She had to return to the cooker when the sausages sizzled, realizing she'd been practically staring.

"They said they found a body on the news." she mentioned.

"Your Ian, I'd imagine." The Pioneer said. "He was probably in the basement, as I imagine it's likely where the Autons got to him."

"Probably," Toni acknowledged. "Likely have a funeral for him soon."

He quickly got bored of that and grabbed a pack of cards. After several unsuccessful attempts to shuffle the deck, he gave up and put it back.

"Anyway," Toni continued. "If we're gonna go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying. I want you to explain everything."

"Maybe not." shrugged the Pioneer, putting the cards away when he heard the cat flap rattle for the second time.

"What's that, then? Do you have a cat?" he asked.

"No." the young woman replied. "We did have, but now they're just strays."

Toni finally emerged from the kitchen balancing two plates and mugs. The Pioneer strode over to the short hall. Seeing nothing, then at that moment, like he had eyes on the back of his head, he quickly turned around to see a plastic arm that flew right for his throat, but got his forearm in front of him for a split second to protect himself from being strangled.

Toni yelped as he fell back, struggling to keep his balance and get upright while pulling the hand from him. The plastic hand outstretched, attempting to reach out for his neck. She placed the plates and mugs back to the kitchen and sprung up, grabbing the arm and yanking as hard as she could. As he pulled back, he used the couch to get himself on his feet. The momentum of his push and her pull dislodged the hand but had them tumbling together on to the coffee table.

Kelly was still in her room, busy writing down notes on her notepad with earbuds on her ears, listening to some music on full blast, completely oblivious to the commotion outside.

Toni paid no mind to the glass as it shattered beneath her, nor did she particularly worry about the Pioneer laying on top of her. She was watching the plastic hand moving around the floor of her living room like Thing from the Addams Family.

The Pioneer quickly leapt to his feet, with Toni following suit to get behind him, trying to shield herself from the plastic hand. When the hand shot up through the air, the Pioneer did something that Toni wouldn't have expected in a million years.

He fished out a metal cylinder thing from his belt. And with a loud, deafening snap hiss that bounced off the walls of the flat, a laser of some kind shot straight out from the emitter of the cylinder, igniting the whole room blue. The Pioneer quickly turned his wrist anti-clockwise, and with quick reflexes, he swung the laser thing and sliced the plastic arm in two, just below the wrist.

The severed hand and the arm stumbled around like they were drunk, fell over as if it collapsed, and stopped moving all together. The sound of the booming hum echoed loudly from the weapon the Pioneer was holding.

Toni watched the whole thing in utter shock, eyes widen and mouth opened at what she just saw. She remained on her spot, leaning her back against the wall to support herself, looking at the weapon in the Pioneer's hand. It was the same metal cylinder she saw last night, with a pulsing blue blade lighting up the living room of the flat.

The blonde shook her head in denial, trying to make sense of this nonsense in front her, mentally pinching herself. No way, like she means _no way _that the weapon this punk rock wearing stranger is not exactly what she think it is.

The Pioneer remained in his stance with his weapon in hand, collectively catching his breath. It might have been seconds or minutes for all Toni knew, as she tried to say something, struggling to utter a single word to come out of her lips.

"I-I-It's," stuttered Toni, unable to comprehend what she witnessed.

The Pioneer turned around to face her, retracting the blade with the sound of a whoosh. He smiled brightly at her reaction.

"Just spit it out, Miss Rossall." chuckled the Pioneer.

"It's a lightsaber." Toni finally said.

"Yes, I know." he grinned.

"It's an actual lightsaber."

"I gathered."

"You have a friggin' lightsaber that actually works!?" she exclaimed. "And it can cut through anything!?"

Before the Pioneer could get a reply, Kelly's voice from her room was heard.

"Everything all right, Toni?" the Portuguese native called.

"I'm fine!" Toni shouted back as she catches her breath.

The room seemed deafening now for some reason, even though there wasn't anything loud about what happened, except the breaking of the table and the hum of the now named lightsaber. It was likely just the sound of her blood rushing through her veins that made her brain feel as though the whole encounter was noisy beyond reason.

"Are you okay?" asked the Pioneer, hooking the lightsaber back to the loop attached to his belt.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Toni, looking down at the remains of the coffee table. "Good thing Kelly hated that thing."

"Was a bit gauche, wasn't it?" The Pioneer replied back to her as he picked up the arm and the hand, looking over them.

"You're one to talk." Toni shot back teasingly, tongue between her teeth as she smiled at him. She than playfully slapped his arm with her hand.

"Ow!" he said in mock hurt, holding the spot on his arm where the blonde tapped him.

The Pioneer made his way downstairs to leave Toni's flat, when he heard some footsteps behind him. He turned to see the blonde darting out after him.

"Hold on a minute!" she called after him, seeing he was just getting to the end stairs at the door. He paused only a brief moment, resuming when she was close enough to easily catch up to him. "You can't just go-swanning off!" she protested.

"Yes I can. Here I am, swanning off. See ya!" he replied as he opened the door to walk though as they left the building and walked across the street. Toni was nearly breathless keeping up with his long, quick stride.

"But that arm was moving autonomously. It tried to kill you." she reasoned.

"Yes, but I sliced it. Completely harmless now. Or, I suppose I could say it was 'armless'?" he quipped, his lips turning upward. He was so bloody attractive and yet...

"This lightsaber of yours," asked Toni, curious. "How did you manage to get it to work? How is it even possible?"

"That, Miss Rossall, is a secret." replied the Pioneer.

"It's Storm." she corrected, a small frown formed in her face.

"Storm?" he repeated in confusion.

"It's my internet name; Toni Storm," she explained. "Well, I do a review show on YouTube, with a topic being about wrestling."

The blonde's reply earned the Pioneer's interest.

"You're doing one of those silly review shows that everyone is now doing?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. "Kind of like the Angry Video Game Nerd and the Nostalgia Critic, which is what everyone is going crazy about right now."

"Ah," he nodded, understanding. "I'm kinda eager to meet them someday, if I'm lucky."

"So, anyway," said Toni, changing the subject. "Who are you?"

"I told you, I'm the Pioneer."

"Just the Pioneer?"

"Aye, just the Pioneer." he acknowledged

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?"

"Sort of."

"Come on, then," she smirked. "You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No, I was just passing through." he replied. "I'm a long way from home."

"But, what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?"

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you," he rolled his eyes. Humans. So full of self importance. "You were just an accident. It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met me."

"So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you instead."

"A bit, yeah."

"You're full of it!" she smiled.

"A bit, yeah." That made Toni laugh.

"But, all these strange occurrences. Who else knows about it?" she asked.

"No one." he told.

"What, you're on your own?"

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch TV, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

"Okay," Toni said, now determined to help. "Let's start from the beginning. The living plastic, how did you stop it?"

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal with the slash of a lightsaber, dead."

"So that's the remote control you were talking about?"

"Thought control, more like. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, of course! I'm more than alright. So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story."

"Well what's this all for? I mean, living plastic, what's that about? Is it limited to shop window dummies or does it apply to all plastic things? Is someone trying to take over Britain? Or the world?"

"No."

"No." she repeated.

"It controls all plastic. It wants to take over Britain. It wants the Earth. It wants to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

"No."

"But you're still listening."

"Really, though, Pioneer. Tell me, who are you?"

The Pioneer didn't say anything for a few seconds. He turned around to face Toni, looking at her as though like he was really studying her. The more he had, the more confused he seemed to become.

"I sense you're meant for great things, Toni," he said to her. "But I can see what they are. The more I glimpse at you, the more you want to be someone; someone who is meant to do so much for the world, as you like them to see you as; the heart of a champion."

Toni's heart seemed to stop in her chest.

"Are you psychic?" she whispered.

"Yes, and I'm telekinetic, too. Time is not set in stone, for the most part. I can predict what's coming from anyone, from people, and events ranging from past, present and future..."

Without conscious thought, Toni took a step toward the Pioneer and took his hand lightly in her own.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

He seemed to consider his response.

"Do you recall when you were a child being told that the world was spinning quite fast? That you were moving around the sun at speeds so great that you could not feel them? Do you recall that disbelief, Toni, that you could be going so fast and not feel it? Come on, I know you had it, you lot always do."

She nodded slightly, unable to tear her eyes away from his.

"I can feel it. The turn of the Earth, the ground beneath our feet spinning at a thousand miles an hour. I can sense the entire planet dancing around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, spinning around her partner like an intricate step on a ballroom floor. You and I, we are falling through space while clinging to the skin of this tiny, little world, and I am aware of every second." he squeezed her fingers. "That, Toni, is who I am. I am more than I appear, and infinitely more dangerous to be around than you can imagine. So, return home, live your life, know that it has been a pleasure."

The Pioneer let go of her hand, and continued walking towards a tall blue police box while Toni stopped to watch him. She wanted to follow him, so badly, but the man was almost begging her to go away. So she would do it. She could handle a few hours of not badgering the poor guy.

She took a few steps, her mind reeling and calm, then heard a strange, odd grinding noise. Looking over her shoulder, she did a double take when she noted the blue police box, and the Pioneer, were both gone.

Stunned, she blinked, trying to make sense of it. A psychic, but what was a time sense? Was that like the mythical internal clock she'd heard so many of her friends go on about? Didn't explain how he thought she was meant for more. For great things.

Nice of him to say, of course, but it was far from the truth. She would never do or be anything great, Toni could only hope for a simple life with a good home and some stability. Girls from Australia with no A-levels did not do great things.

She turned and started heading back to her building, trying to push the Pioneer from her mind. But even as she entered the flat, Kelly was grumbling about the destroyed furniture, there was something about him that Toni simply could not brush off.

* * *

**London, 11th June, 2008**

A few days later, Toni found herself in the passengers seat of Kelly's car, as the Portuguese woman parked it across the street.

After helping her flatmate clean up the remains of the old coffee table, Toni steeled herself to use the computer that she and Kelly shared and attempt to look up the Pioneer and find out who he was. What she had found was a conspiracy website from a local man. She tried to do a bit more digging on her own, but when nothing else came up, she took out her mobile.

After a long conversation about the website, Kelly was driving her to meet the geezer while protesting it the whole time.

"... and if he even so much as looks at you funny, you hightail it out of there, you hear?" lectured Kelly, frowning all the way.

"Don't be such a worrywart. He's safe. He's got a wife and kids," Toni exited the car and Kelly accompanied her.

"Yeah, who told you that? He did. That's exactly what crazed internet lunatics would say," she chided as they crossed the street. One of Clive's neighbours, who was in the process of putting out the rubbish, gave Kelly a nasty look. Toni smiled awkwardly at the man in apology.

"Oh, and Kelly, stay away from any plastic," the blonde whispered when the redhead turned away. She glared suspiciously at the rubbish bin.

"What?"

"Just-I've never led you wrong before, right? Please just trust me on this."

Kelly was still looking at her funny as Toni knocked on the door to Clive's house.

A young boy opened it.

"Hello, I've come to see Clive? We've been emailing." she told him.

"Oh great. I thought you were a bit too pretty to be normal," the boy said. Kelly snickered, causing Toni to look at her with a funny, confused look.

The young boy turned and yelled into the house. "Dad! It's one of your nutters!"

A middle aged man lumbered to the door.

"Oh, sorry. Hello. You must be Toni. I'm Clive, obviously."

Kelly interrupted, glowering threateningly at Clive. "Hello. I'm Kelly, and I'm gonna be waiting in the car, just in case you decide you're going to try and kill Toni."

"Ah yes, good point. No murders." Clive waved Kelly off as the Portuguese woman headed to her car.

"Who is it?" a woman asked from further inside the house.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Pioneer. She's been reading the website. Please, come through. I'm in the shed."

"'She'? She's read a website about the Pioneer? She's a she?"

Clive unlocked the shed, waved her in first. "A lot of stuff's quite sensitive." He explained as Toni took in the world map covered in various coloured pins. On the side was a colour-coded list indicating a time period dating back to the 1500s. There were various print outs posted all over the walls, and a computer on a corner shelf currently turned off. "I couldn't just send it to you. Government might intercept it, you see."

"Why you say that?" Toni asked, watching as Clive retrieved a banker box off a shelf.

"Been proof he works for them, or as much proof as you can call anything you find."

"What, like Bond or something?" Toni asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as Clive took the lid off the box and started to separate papers into stacks.

"In a way, I guess. See, thing is, if you dig enough, keep a lively mind, this Pioneer keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just 'the Pioneer'. And the title doesn't just seem to belong to one man or one generation. I keep finding different men throughout history that carry the title, except the same face will pop up in different eras, so it must be a title passed down from father to son as well. See?"

He took out some photos, most blurry and hard to actually see. Toni shuffled through them, taking in the different profiles, and how there didn't seem to be one that matched the man she'd met.

She picked what appears to be like a sketching of a Japanese village, with a figure of a man dressed like a ninja, complete with a cape, and a bamboo straw hat, with a signature writing in Japanese at the bottom right corner. Toni wished she could understand the language to make out what it actually says.

"This was drawn during the Japanese Edo Period in 1633," told Clive. "A year after his ninja clan had moved to that precise location as their headquarters after their rival clan had raided and burned the place down."

Toni was trying to process this information, not quite sure that the ninja person on this sketch was the same person she met a few days ago. She continues to shuffle through several photographs.

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original," he said as he handed her it, showing of John F. Kennedy's cortege going through Dallas.

"22nd November, 1963. President Kennedy's assassination. You see?" he pointed at the specific person on the photo; the Pioneer.

"Must be his father." said Toni, unable to believe any of this.

"Going further back," said Clive, showing another photo, showing a family "April, 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend. This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived."

Toni knotted her eyebrows together, confusion evident on her face trying to make sense to what Clive had told her.

"The Pioneer is a legend woven throughout history," Clive continued. "When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."

"Who's that?" asked Toni.

"Death."

* * *

As this conversation was taking place, Kelly was experiencing something rather supernatural out in the street. As she stood next to her car, watching Clive's house like a hawk, the rubbish bin began to roll closer to her. Spotting movement from the corner of her eye, she turned around and stared at the wheelie bin making its way towards her.

* * *

"If the Pioneer's back," told Clive to Toni. "If you've seen him, Toni, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger."

* * *

Kelly's first instinct was to go see if someone or something was stuck in there, but Toni's warning stilled her feet. It was true, she _hadn't_ led her wrong before. Not ever.

When the bin reached within a meter of her, Kelly decided she's had it with the prankster, who was obviously trying to give her a cheap scare. She cautiously went to the bin, her wrestling training kicking in, with one hand folded into a fist, and the other on the lid of the bin very carefully. She flicked the lid open, pulling her fist back, ready to strike at the little shit.

"Come on, then!" called out Kelly, expecting a person in the bin, only to find it empty.

Kelly looked perplexed for a minute, before deciding it was nothing. She closes the lid, and finds herself stuck in the plastic.

"Huh?" said Kelly, trying to pull her fingers off the plastic lid.

When she does, the plastic material stretches out, pulling her hand back to the lid. Trying again, she pulled back, only to get the same result. Eventually, the bin opens the lid and pulls her in backwards, and closes the lid with a satisfying burp.

* * *

"You're labelling him as a harbinger of death and destruction," said Toni. "Okay, I get that, I guess. But _who_ is he, actually? Or rather, who do you think he is?"

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world." finished Clive.

* * *

Toni had her way out of the house and to Kelly's car, as she tried to get all that information about the Pioneer wrapped in her mind after what Clive had told her.

Not of this world? Dangerous? Well, the latter made sense, as she did meet the bloke when he was aiming to blow up her job. And then again when he was attacked by a plastic dummy arm in her home. But he also saved her life twice, which was something a truly dangerous person wouldn't do. Would they? She doubted that anyone who was as careless with life as Clive made him out to be would have bothered with a rescue of any sort.

Not of this world? That was unsettling, especially as his enchanting words from a few days ago repeated on loop in her mind. He could feel the turn of the Earth, the way it moved through space. He spoke of things that seemed right out of those cheesy sci-fi movies as though they were just as common as corgis and parrots who spoke.

Had she been singled out by him? She didn't think it was intentional on his part if she somehow were. He made no move to follow her home the night before, and seemed genuinely surprised to find her on the other side of the door in the morning. Which, well, she did say where she lived. Not the building specifically, but still. No, he didn't single her out, couldn't have.

"_So, return home, live your life, know that it has been a pleasure._"

There was a finality in those words, as though he didn't think he would see her again.

Toni moved around to the passenger seat, plopped in, and let out a sigh of relief both being in a safe space once more, and with the knowledge that she likely wasn't doomed to some terrible fate for meeting a supposedly dangerous being.

"Alright, Clive was a nutter. Off his head, complete online conspiracy freak. You win." she said on a breath, not looking at Kelly as she allowed her heart and mind to settle as much as she could. She closed her eyes, and behind her lids she saw that charming smile, the warmth and sadness in his eyes as he said farewell.

"What're we gonna do tonight?" Toni asked in an attempt to distract herself. "I fancy a pizza."

"Pizzaaaa. P-p-p-pizza." Kelly stuttered. Toni cracked her eye open a fraction to peek at her. Something was off about her, though she couldn't put her finger on what.

"Or Chinese?" she suggested.

"Pizza!" Kelly reaffirmed.

"Alright then." Toni said as Kelly started the car. The car jerked, swerved a bit, and Toni's eyes shot open.

"Hey, Kelly!" exclaimed Toni. "What's wrong with you!?"

"Nothing, mate, pal, ol' chum." Kelly replied in quick succession.

She eyed her over again, wondering to herself if she'd had such pore-free skin as of late and she simply hadn't noticed. Or did she accidentally use some of her moisturiser that might've been left at their bathroom by mistake. Kelly was shiny like, and her hair is in a brighter red colour than usual...

A knot began to form in the pit of her stomach as a weariness set over her.

"_If the Pioneer's back, if you've seen him, Toni, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger._"

Clive's words of warning whirled in Toni's mind, but she refused to believe them. She turned her head away from Kelly, promptly ignoring the eerie way she wouldn't stop smiling as though she was attempting to be overly cheerful, or how she looked very much like she was made of plastic.

* * *

"Do you think I should try the hospital?" Toni asked Kelly after they had been settled at the restaurant and ordered.

She didn't talk the whole way there, and it took as long for her to work up the courage to deal with the fact that her flatmate might be plastic now. Was that possible? She supposed if dummies coming to life was possible, then so was… but did that mean Kelly was dead, or just possessed? She knew could hold her hand to find out, remembering the Pioneer reading her mind and presumably Kelly's to find out if they had a skeleton, but Kelly hadn't offered and she didn't dare find out.

At least not that way.

Sitting in a public place helped a bit. It was unnerving that there was a match on and she was still staring at her, but she also hadn't made a move that seemed threatening either. Toni had started talking tentatively at first, hoping that maybe normal, banal conversation would give her suspicions a direction to go in. Maybe something she'd say would tip the scales.

Eventually, all the random subjects somehow led her to her job prospects.

"Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. Or maybe I could do my A levels?" She considered, more to herself than the ever staring Kelly. "Could do college, complete my training to become a pro wrestler. Not much better, mind, but still better than dishing out chips or working at the butchers. I dunno."

"So, where did you meet this Pioneer?" Kelly suddenly asked, smile never wavering. "Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? He had something to do with that?"

Heat rose in Toni's cheeks, and she looked away, wrapping a lock of hair around her finger. "No," she replied softly.

"Come on." Kelly prodded.

"Sorta," Toni said, starting to grow nervous.

"What was he doing there?" Kelly asked.

"I dunno, Kelly, and I'm not going on about him. Talk about him much more and I might end up like that nutter Clive, thinking he's a government agent or a sign the world's ending." she said, laughing nervously.

"But you can trust me, ol' chum! Mate, pal, ol' chum, mate." Kelly replied, and the hairs on the back of Toni's neck rose. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Pioneer and what he's planning, and I can help you, Toni. Because that's all I really wanna do, ol' chum, mate, pal, ol' chum."

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" Toni asked, her hand crept toward her butter knife. She once learned from Rhea that if she put enough force behind it, she could still do damage to an attacker. She also added up the number of times she used one to stab open a package when it was being difficult. She doubted that if the Kelly before her was plastic like she was suspecting, another dummy, that she could get it with cutlery, but it was all she had.

"Champagne?" A male voice inquired, and a sense of safe halted her finger walk to the utensil. She stiffened, not daring to look up lest it just be the waiter.

"We didn't order any champagne." Kelly replied without looking away from her. She went to reach for her, but Toni drew her hand away promptly. She didn't seem to notice. "Where's the Pioneer?"

"Miss, your champagne?" The waiter asked.

She looked up, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the Pioneer shaking the bottle with a slight up turn of his lips.

"Didn't order any." Toni said, not quite believing he was there.

"No? Such a shame, you two looked like you were about to celebrate something."

"Look, we didn't order it," Kelly said, and Toni glanced back over to see that she had finally pulled her eyes away from her. Unfortunately, she appeared darkly giddy at the sight of the Pioneer. "Gotcha."

"Are you sure about that?" The Pioneer asked, pointing the corked end of the bottle and twisted the wire away from neck.

The cork launched off, hitting Kelly squarely in the forehead. Toni launched to her feet as the cork disappeared, Kelly's head rippling like a water bed, and then her jaw worked like she was moving something about in her mouth. She spit out the cork, getting to her feet, teeth bared in a vicious way.

"Anyway." She said casually, lifting her hand as though she was about to karate chop the table. On its way down, her hand turned into a block of plastic, turning the table to splinters.

Toni yelped, jumping back behind the Pioneer just as he ignited his lightsaber, standing guard as he held the pulsing blue blade between himself and the plastic imposter.

As the Pioneer was ready to strike at whatever the thing that replaced her flatmate, Toni ran to the nearest wall and pulled the fire alarm just as screams erupted from the other diners.

"Everyone out, now!" she called to them, though she really didn't need to. At the moment, the Pioneer swung his lightsaber and slashed at the dummy Kelly, decapitating the head of the thing, people were already scrambling to leave. The restaurant was emptied quickly, leaving the Pioneer holding the head of the thing while the body moved about smashing things with little balance or wherewithal.

Tucking the head to his side and retracting the saber, the Pioneer ran toward Toni and grabbed her hand with his free one.

"Run!" he said as he gave her a tug and led her through the now empty kitchens.

They burst through into an alley, in behind the restaurant and the Pioneer let go of Toni's hand to close the door and remove his cylinder thingy that was smaller than a lightsaber from his jeans pocket. Keeping the door closed with his hip, he pointed the blue LED tip at the lock and it whirred.

Whatever he was doing, Toni somehow doubted it would hold. She ran to the gates and yanked, only to note the chains and padlocks a bit too late.

"Open the gate! Use your little tube thing!" Toni called to him, gesturing to their only means of escape.

The Pioneer smirked as he walked calmly toward a blue police box much like the one he entered a few days ago. "What? This?" he said, wiggling the thing between his fingers before looking at it with slight fondness. "It's a sonic screwdriver."

"Use it!" Toni begged.

"Oh, I have a much better escape plan than running through there." The Pioneer said as he tucked the screwdriver thing inside his pocket. "The Auton will catch up to you if you try to run. Come in here with me, we'll be safe."

A smash on the restaurant door drew Toni's attention for a moment, and the thick, heavy metal now barring large dents in it.

"We can't hide inside a wooden box! You saw what it did to the tables in there!" Toni panicked, gesturing to the door that was starting to come apart.

"It's not really wooden, I promise. It's the safest place in the universe. Now," he said as he unlocked the door and waved her in. "Come on, I'll explain more when we're inside."

He entered the box, and Toni looked between it and the door now coming off the hinges.

Taking a leap of faith, Toni ran inside the police box.

She stopped breathing nearly immediately. The interior was dark, golden, metal, and much, much larger than it should be. What's more, she spotted corridors that obviously led to other places. It was impossible, utterly impossible. She'd hit her head, or maybe she was actually still in Clive's shed, drugged and dreaming of all the nonsense he said.

But even then, he never mentioned this, and she could never dream it up.

Eyes widening, Toni darted out of the box, and looked at it with a look of shock on her face. Circling the police box, she felt the four walls, trying to make sense of what was going on and why it was not at all what it should have been inside.

"_I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world._"

Clive's words echoed in her head as her heart launched and stayed in her throat. She looked up at the big, blue box, trying to reconcile it with all she learned, when the sound of the door to the restaurant giving way cut through it all. Toni promptly ran back inside, slamming the door shut and leaning against it a moment.

"It's gonna follow us!" she panicked.

"I promise you, the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through, and they tried, believe me. Now, if you'll hold on for just another moment longer, I will explain everything." he said as he focused on connecting the fake head of Kelly to something on the shiny, metal control panel he stood before.

After a few moments, he grinned a bit. "There we are. The arm I got from you a few days ago turned out to be too simple. But the head is perfect, and with it, I can trace the signal back to the original source." he straightened up, moving around the controls to stand in front of her, keeping the distance of the ramp between them. "Now, I'm sure you have questions. Where would you like to start?"

"Umm…" Toni said, blinking a few times. "The inside's bigger than the outside?"

"Yes, it is. Technically the inside is another dimension. This, my ship, is called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space." he replied.

"Space? Ship?" Toni shook her head a bit. "It's alien."

"Yes." he replied, hands clasped behind his back.

"Are you an alien?" Toni asked.

"I suppose to you, I am, yes. I'm known as a Time Lord." he replied with a grin. "I hope that's alright."

"Yeah," Toni said, moving closer to him. Her eyes shifted to the head of Kelly on the console. "Did they kill her? The… otones?"

"Autons," The Pioneer corrected gently, moving toward the head again. "And no, I doubt very much that they would have killed her. A bit like the Zygons in that it's helpful for them to keep the original alive." he said as he started punching buttons on the controls, and staring at a screen with a crease in his brow.

"Is it-is it a bad sign that she's melting?" Toni asked, pointing to the now soft and collapsing head.

The Pioneer looked to her first, the crease in the brow still there, before looking down and seeing the features of Kelly's face swiftly softening and becoming goo.

"No! No, stop, I'm not, I didn't… No, no, no!" He pulled on his long hair before frantically moving around the controls. "Hold on to the rail, Toni, it's going to get bumpy. I'm trying to…" he grunted as he pushed on a lever that seemed to stick. "Trace the signal before it fades…"

The column in the middle of the controls started to bob up and down, as the grinding noise she heard a few days back filled the room and sent goosebumps over Toni's skin. Her lips upturned involuntarily in a strange rush of excitement.

The floor shook slightly, and the room went silent as the Pioneer hung his head.

"I got close, but not close enough. I still need to track down the signal."

"How do you mean?" Toni asked as he stepped away from the controls, taking her elbow gently as he passed her and leading her back through the door.

When they stepped outside, the smell of the Thames hit Toni's nose, making it wrinkle involuntarily. She glanced around, seeing the London eye not far away, wondering briefly how they managed to emerge not only so far from where they started, but also where it was oddly quiet.

"We moved," she said, looking up at the Pioneer with surprise. "Does it fly?"

"Disappears there and reappears here."

"What about the headless thing? Is it still on the loose?" She asked, chewing her lip.

"No, it would have melted with the head. At this rate we should be more worried that the Autons know, and thereby try and duplicate your friend again."

"Why? Why would they do that?" Toni asked.

The Pioneer tilted his head in thought. "I would think they would believe if they managed to fool you, then they could do the same to others who may know her. Your family, her's, anyone they think might have had an encounter with me. If they destroy me, nothing will be left to stop them from taking over the planet."

"But why? What's it got against us?"

"Nothing at all. Autons are more of a foot solider for the Nestene Consciousness. It simply loves a polluted planet, and unfortunately for you lot, this era of Earth's history is the worst for it. I imagine once its food stores were destroyed in the-"

He stopped, and a flash of something darted across the Pioneer's eyes. For a moment, he looked very tired, and very lonely. "Well, when they were destroyed, the Nestene had no other choice but to hunt for another one."

"So how are you going to stop them?" Toni asked. "'Cause you blew up my job and the arm was still able to hunt ya down. Sliced the head off the other one, and it chased after us still. Gotta be a permanent solution, yeah?"

"Oh, there is." The Pioneer replied, reaching into his coat and searching. "You see, the Autons aren't just foot soldiers, they are controlled by the Nestene Consciousness. It's mother and father all in one. Produces the Autons and creates the connection needed to have them move about. But it's plastic in liquid form, so all I need is this." he said, showing Toni a vial of blue liquid.

"Which is?" Toni asked.

"Anti-plastic. I plan to use it as more of a threat, encourage them to move along, but if they don't…" he said as he pocketed the vial once again.

"So, how do you find it?" Toni asked as the Pioneer's eyes grew sad and distant again.

"Well, it would be under the transmitter, I imagine. The consciousness would want to control every piece of plastic on the planet, not just the ones it creates itself. That's how the shop dummies got involved, I imagine. But the transmitter may not be easy to find."

"What would it look like?" Toni asked.

"Round and massive. Something near the heart of the city, and not far from where we currently are."

Toni looked over his shoulder and stared at the London Eye. He frowned, and looked at her, then over his shoulder. "What?" he asked, looking over his shoulder and back at her. Then his eyes lit up and he turned his whole body around to see it. "Of course!" He smacked his forehead. "Why build something when you can utilize what's already in place! That's it!" He spun back around, his face filled with boyish excitement, making him look so very young. "Come with me! Come see this through to the end of me, Toni." he said, clasping her hands in his.

Her heart started racing, and her smile grew.

"Let's go." she said, causing his smile to grow before he launched into a run and pulled her along with him.

It was terribly cliché, even to Toni's mind, but it felt as though pieces were falling into place as they raced over the bridge to the London eye, laughing like school children the whole way. Her hand fit perfectly in his cool one, their strides matched even if she seemed to be a bit more winded than he was. In that moment, it was like Toni had found a friend she'd sought out her whole life and could never find.

"Right," he said as they came to a stop in front of the eye. "I can't imagine anywhere else the transmitter could be, but I don't see anything that would indicate the Consciousness is around. Perhaps it's underground, but where would we get in?"

Toni let go of his hand and peered over the side of the stone wall where the bridge rail connected. She spotted the manhole cover and grinned.

"How about there?" she asked, pointing to it as the Pioneer came up beside her.

"You want some-" Toni stopped as the Pioneer lifted up the cover as though it were nothing. Proper strong, then, not just lean. Then again, alien. Maybe he was considered weak for a Time Lord.

The Pioneer set the cover aside and peered down inside. Instead of pitch black like she was expecting, a red glow met Toni's eyes. Light smoke billowed up, the scent of burnt plastic accompanying it.

"Bit ominous." Toni joked nervously.

"Can see how you humans would think that." The Pioneer smirked. He offered her his hand once again, helping her down to the ladder as only a gentleman would. She didn't have the heart to tell him she could have managed on her own.

He followed her down, and once they were on solid ground again, he took the lead once more, though this time he didn't hold her hand in the process. The Pioneer approached a door, looked over his shoulder to ensure Toni was near, and pulled it open slowly.

Reaching back, he waited for Toni's hand to slide into his once more before leading her through the door and into a vast chamber that reminded Toni of old gang movies. She imagined there had been a few movies filmed down here before it was taken over by a plastic army. There was even a vat of something that reminded Toni of molten lava she'd see in volcano films, but in a container similar to where the mafia bosses would always try and drown the snitches and the prisoners.

"That's the Nestene Consciousness." The Pioneer said, pointing to the vat.

Toni frowned. "That?" she pointed, and he nodded. "How are you gonna reason with that to move along?"

"Politely." he replied, letting go of her hand and heading down the nearby stairs to get a bit closer.

He approached the railing, drawing the attention of the shop dummy soldiers, but didn't seem to be bothered. In fact, his entire stance shifted in a blink, and it seemed the dashing regency hero was gone. In his place stood a warrior, the Pioneer using his full height to make himself seem bigger. His shoulders were squared in a way that made them seem wider, his body taut with authority.

"I seek an audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract in accordance to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Pioneer's voice was unwavering, powerful, with an edge of danger that eluded to what sort of trouble one would get in with the Pioneer around. He was breathtaking and terrifying at once.

There was a gurgle from the thing below, breaking Toni's entrancement. She glanced down, seeing the liquid move.

"Thank you," The Pioneer said with a slight tilt of his head. "May I have permission to approach?"

"Toni!" She heard a harsh whisper, and she whipped her head to the side to find Kelly crouched in a corner.

"Kelly," she breathed, darting toward her. She felt the Pioneer's eyes on her as she knelt down by her shaking flatmate. "You're stinking!" she said, wrinkling her nose at the combined odour of sweat and plastic.

"That thing down there, the liquid. It can talk, Toni!"

"Yes, and if you don't mind, I am attempting to have a conversation with it." The Pioneer said to Kelly before turning back to the vat. "If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology ravaged in the Time War. So, if you would kindly use it one more time and leave the planet before I call in reinforcements."

The vat gurgled and moved again.

"Oh, no, this is an invasion. You can't tell me you have a constitutional right to be here." The Pioneer countered.

The plastic in the vat formed something like a wave, the gurgles more of a hiss.

"I am talking!" snapped the Pioneer, eyes flaring. "So kindly listen and wait your turn to talk! Your being here will stunt the development of the planet and its people. Not to mention that being a level five planet, you would have had to seek permission to be-"

"Pioneer!" Toni called out as she noticed two shop dummies emerging from the shadows behind him.

He wasn't quick enough as one grabbed both the Pioneer's arms and held them behind his back while the other searched him. It pulled the vial of anti-plastic from inside his jeans pocket and Toni's heart dropped to her stomach.

"I wasn't going to use that, not unless I had to." The Pioneer attempted to reassure, but he was met with more angry gurgles. "I was not going to attack you, honestly. I wanted to help." More gurgles, and doors behind him opened, revealing the TARDIS.

Panic began to grip Toni, her chest heaving as her eyes shifted constantly between the Pioneer and his ship.

"Yes, that is my ship. But I swear, I didn't fight in the war, not in that way!"

There was a loud, gurgling roar before the room vibrated and pulses of something like electricity began to flow from the vat.

"What's it doing?" Toni called to the Pioneer, her near-hyperventilation as fear mounted causing her voice to shriek.

"It identified the TARDIS as superior technology, and knowing what I am, it's terrified. It's going to start the invasion. You need to get out of here, Toni, now!"

Kelly clamoured past her, darting for freedom with Toni following a little more reluctantly behind her. She kept looking back at the Pioneer as he struggled to get free. There had to be something she could do. He'd saved her twice after all.

"Stairs are gone!" Kelly panicked.

"Try the doors," she shouted, jumping back into motion. When Kelly did nothing but look around in a panic, she darted to the time ship yanked on the door. They wouldn't budge, though she supposed they wouldn't for anyone but the Pioneer.

"Over there." Kelly pointed. "There's a way over there." He went to head for whatever escaped she seemed to notice, but Toni paused.

The Pioneer was still struggling, but while he couldn't quite get his grip free from his plastic captures, she noticed they didn't move. Toni eyed the chains hanging from the ceiling, noted the axe on the wall nearby. It was suicidal, this plan formulating in her head. But what other choice did she have? She was likely going to die if she simply stood by and did nothing. She was probably going to die if she managed to escape. Hell, there was every possibility that she would die just trying to do what came to mind, but at least this way, everyone else had a shot.

"Come on, Toni! Just leave him!" She heard Kelly call as she grabbed the axe. "There's nothing you can do!"

And how often was she told that in her life? That there was nothing she could do. Because of her upbringing. Because of her lack of education. Because she wasn't meant for anything further, other than her show and her future wrestling career.

"I've got no A levels." she said as she huffed the axe onto her shoulder. "No job." She put her whole weight into the swing as she hacked the chain away. "No future." She grabbed the chain and climbed up on the railing.

"Tell you what I have got, though, aside from my YouTube show. Wrestling academy for teenage girls. I've got three trophies as reward."

She took a mighty leap and swung.

Her knees planted on the shoulders of an Auton holding the anti-plastic with a forward headsissors, arching her back to perform a hurricanrana, sending it toppling over the rail and right into the vat below just as the Pioneer managed to Judo toss the other one over his shoulder. Whether it landed in the vat or not, Toni wasn't sure. As she swung back toward him, the Pioneer plucked her off the chain and hugged her tightly.

"Amazing! How did you manage to pull that off?" he laughed. "But we're in trouble. The Nestene isn't stable, and the anti-plastic will make it worse. We need to head to the TARDIS." He turned, clutching her hand and heading up to his ship.

"Kelly," Toni called, seeing she didn't get far in her escape plan after all. The redhead nervously ran back toward her.

"What are you doing?" Kelly asked.

Toni merely grinned, waving her to follow her and the Pioneer inside.

"Holy fuck!" Kelly exclaimed as she stepped inside the TARDIS behind her, and Toni waited by the doors for her to move a couple feet in further before closing them shut.

Kelly's legs seemed to give out, and she collapsed on the floor, clutching the railing.

"Well, I have to admit that that's a first-time reaction." The Pioneer mused. "Now, let's see. I believe I found you… Ah, yes, right here." he said, turning some knobs and flicking some switched before throwing a big one. That wonderful, grinding noise filled the room again, the column bobbing along. It seemed like no time at all before it shuddered to a stop.

"This should be you." The Pioneer said, waving to the doors.

Kelly was up on her feet and outside before Toni could turn around and follow.

Sure enough, she found herself on the neighbourhood where she and Kelly live, the same alley she'd followed him to not long ago. Kelly stumbled out, half crawling backward until she was against a brick wall.

In the distance, police and ambulance sirens mixed with indignant and panicked cries as people tried to figure out what was going on.

Toni was the first to get out of the TARDIS, smiling brightly, making her way to the terrified Kelly. She turns around to see the Pioneer leaning elegantly against the doorway with his arms folded.

"A fat load of good you were." teased Toni.

"Nestene Consciousness?" said the Pioneer, snapping his fingers. "Easy."

She smiled at him, tongue between her teeth, peeking out the corner of her mouth.

"Suppose not. Though you would be dead if it wasn't for me." Toni said, head held high.

"Yes, I would." he said, shifting so he stood with one hand outside the ship, hands dropping to his side before one lifted slightly toward her, palm out. "So, come with me. Don't think I didn't hear that little pep talk you gave yourself before you risked your life to save mine. Come with me, see the universe."

"Don't!" Kelly said, grabbing on to Toni's leg. "He's an alien, he's a thing!"

"Needless to say, I won't be taking her."

Toni looked down at Kelly clinging to her leg, then back up to the Pioneer. "Is it always this dangerous?" she asked.

He seemed to consider his answer, narrowing his eyes and looking at his feet thoughtfully. His hand dropped to his side, fingers lightly rapping against his coat.

"Tonight, I righted a wrong set in motion because of events beyond our control. Events that should never have happened in such a devastating capacity. There are more out there. More things that need to be fixed, and I could use someone at my side while I do it. And not just through the Universe, but through time as well. We'd be travelling into the future, and back in the past. On Earth and on other planets. It's dangerous, yes." He looked up once more, meeting her eyes dead on. "But something tells me you aren't afraid of the danger." he replied, hand lifting a bit higher than before. "Would you like to make a difference with me, Toni?"

Toni looked down at Kelly again, seeing her shake her head vehemently.

She didn't want her to go, didn't want her to take a risk. She wanted her here, watching silly movies and wrestling PPVs to make childish jokes out of them, to eat bagged lunches by the fountain in the square and posting her flatmate's weekly episodes on YouTube. She'd want her to work at a temporary, stable job, earn enough to keep everything going until she'd launch her wrestling career and to travel the world to see everything.

Toni looked to the Pioneer, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes after her taking so long to reply. There was a hurt there, as well as an acceptance, like it wasn't the first time he'd been told no. His hand began to drop, palm turning back toward his body.

And she suddenly wanted to snatch it, to grip it tight and never let go. Yes, he was dangerous. Yes, he was an alien. Yes, she would risk her life more with him than she ever would here on the streets of London. But dammit, she would _live!_ The Universe, all of time and space, she could see it with him. She could make a difference. She could be better.

Toni turned to Kelly, smiling sadly. "Thanks," she said, lightly wrapping her arms around the redhead for a friendly, goodbye hug.

"For what?" Kelly asked as she let go of blonde's leg and got to her feet in confusion.

"Exactly." Toni replied, squeezing her arm briefly before turning back to the Pioneer.

His eyes lit up with hope, and her sad smile changed to one of excitement before she launched herself toward him. He stepped aside, allowing her to run inside and through the open door.


End file.
